During the Second World War, there were thousands of people who were executed inside of Nazi
Germany for defying Hitler and refusing to conform to his ideals and politics.
The militaries involved in the conflict needed a huge number of people to fight for their
countries, and for some people they could just not take up arms because of their religious
beliefs.
There were thousands of conscientious objectors who refused to join the armies of many nations
for their religious beliefs.
Some people were excused service in the military for this, but inside of Hitler’s Germany,
the Dictator saw this as a disgrace and he would sentence many people who refused to
fight to death.
One man who was executed by the guillotine inside of a German prison was Franz Jagerstatter,
who was just a humble farmer who could not fight for the Germans during the war.
But what is his story?
Join us today as we look at the horrific execution of the farmer that stood up to Hitler.
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Franz Jagmrstatter was born in Upper Austria in a small village near to Salzburg, and inside
this settlement everyone was catholic.
His father was a farmer and his mother was a chambermaid, and they were not a particularly
well off family.
His parents were not married as they could not afford it, and Franz was looked after
by his very strongly Catholic grandmother Elisabeth Huber.
His father was forced to serve in the First World War inside of the army, and in 1915
he was killed in action when Franz was just 8 years old.
His mother would remarry two years later to Heinrich Jagerstatter, and Franz was adopted
by his step father, and he later gave over the farm to him after Franz would later marry.
But as a child, Franz was a good student and was very conscientious, but he left school
after he was 14.
He was described as ‘jolly, robust, fun loving and hot blooded, but also intelligent
and bullheaded,’ and he seemed to be above his peers and someone who wanted to try new
things out.
He was the first in his village to own a motorbike, and he was a religious young man who regularly
went to mass.
He would later become more devoted to his faith, but also as a young man he was part
of a gang who had many different fights.
His group would fight against members of the Heimwehr, a paramilitary group after a group
of girls paid them more attention and for this he was locked up in prison for a number
of days.
But in August 1933 he had an illegitimate daughter named Hildegard after he had an affair
with a local farm maidservant.
Franz would pay support for her and visit her, but he was then ousted out of his village
for a number of years regarding the paternity of this child, but in the mid 1930s, his life
changed.
Franz became a heavily religious individual, and most of his neighbours said that he changed
‘so suddenly that people just couldn’t understand it, almost as id he had been possessed
by a higher power.’
But he later married another deeply religious woman, and they then went on pilgrimage and
were even blessed by the Pope.
Most people believed his strong conversion was down to his wife, however in Austria at
the end of the 1930s, things would change heavily.
In Germany, Adolf Hitler had seized control and expressed his desire to absorb Austria
into the German Third Reich he wished to have.
He wanted to unite all German speaking people under an empire with him at the top as the
Fuhrer and the dictator, and in Austria he would march his soldiers into the country
after the country was annexed with the Anschluss.
A false vote claimed that over 99% of Austrians wanted to join up with Nazi Germany, however
in his village Franz Jagerstatter was the only person to vote against the plebiscite
and the union, however the German authorities suppressed his dissent and vote.
He could not believe that there were so many Catholics supporting the Nazis, and he wrote,
‘I believe there could scarcely be a sadder hour for the true Christian Faith in our country.’
He was not involved in any resistance in a sense, but he remained openly anti nazi, and
he did take part in some military training.
However on the 8th December 1940, he joined the Third Order of Saint Francis, and he then
worked at the local church after he deferred his military service four times.
He was drafted to begin with in June 1940, but refused to take the Hitler Oath.
He was then sent home and was allowed to work under an exemption as he was a farmer and
was said to have had been an important worker to provide more people with food.
However he continued to voice his discontent with the Nazis, especially their euthanasia
programs but also their attack on the church.
He also then turned against the war, and he wanted to meet with the Bishop of Linz to
discuss these points, but he was not able to get the outcome he wanted.
Franz Jagerstatter was then called into active duty on the 9th February 1943 within the German
Army.
He was furious with this, and he was forced to then leave his wife and three young daughters
behind, and he would state that he did not want to fight for Nazi Germany.
Because of this he declared his conscientious objection, and he decided to resist fighting.
He even offered to serve the army in a non military capacity as a stretcher bearer or
as a medic, however this was rejected.
For his objection, Jagerstatter was arrested and he was placed in custody inside of the
army.
He was transferred to Linz where he was held, and then he was moved to Berlin as he was
considered a serious offender.
Whilst he was in prison, he was visited by a priest from his village who told him to
just serve in the army but not take a life, however Franz was not willing to do this.
He was willing to die for his beliefs, and he was then brought to trial.
In front of a military trial at the highest military court in Nazi Germany, Franz Jagerstatter
was charged with undermining military morale and causing damaging dissent to the Wehrmacht.
For this he was sentenced to death, and was to be killed for his refusal to fight for
the German Army.
He was taken to Brandenburg-Gorden Prison, where he was told to await his execution.
During the Second World War, this became one of the selected execution sites established
by Hitler’s regime to take the lives of many people.
An execution chamber was created, and it was set up in what had previously been a garage
and was fitted with a guillotine and a gallows.
It was similar to Plotzensee Prison, which also had a guillotine and a hanging beam,
and inside this execution chamber over 2700 people would be executed inside this room.
The youngest victim of this chamber would be a young 15 year old French boy, however
on the 9th August 1943 Franz Jagerstatter was taken from his prison cell into the execution
chamber.
Shockingly as he entered the execution chamber, there was an official there that gave him
the option to escape his death.
He was asked to sign a documented that would recant his objections, and if he signed this
he would have been spared.
However he refused to do so and refused to be complicit in anything to do with the Nazis,
and his final words before his death were ‘I am completely bound in inner union with
the Lord.’
He was then strapped to a wooden board by the executioner’s assistants who secured
his hands and feet also, before he was quickly slid under the guillotine blade.
Then the executioner made a few final checks before he released the blade and Franz Jagerstatter,
the conscientious objector was executed.
There were many more people who conscientiously objected to serve in the Second World War
and refused to carry arms.
For example Desmond Doss the heroic stretcher bearer, who would become a valiant figure.
Franz Jagerstatter defied the Nazis and their attacks on the church, and he was a man who
rather than compromise on his principles decided to go to the guillotine.
The fact he had the chance to save his life but refused to do so is an interesting one,
and it shows you the devotion he had to his religion and beliefs, but also the hatred
he had to the Nazis.
The story of Franz Jagerstatter is one that isn’t the most well known, but it’s one
that deserves to be remembered.
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